Today’s movie of the day is 2002’s The Pianist, an autobiographical movie directed by Roman Polanski. This is an extraordinary film that has been nominated for and won multiple Academy Awards. The events were inspired by a Holocaust memoir detailing the true story of a privileged musician who lived through and survived the Nazi invasion of Poland.

The movie examines the life of Wladyslaw Szpilman (played by Adrien Brody), a talented polish pianist who fights for survival during the Second World War. He is born into a wealthy family and lives comfortably in Warsaw, Poland. The family is oblivious of the impending danger the Germans pose to Poland and sees the presence of Nazi forces in their region as merely a passing threat. However, the proverbial naïveté glass is broken when a bomb blows apart a radio studio while Wladyslaw is performing. Learning of the now certain threat, he spends years on the run trying to evade being captured by Nazi troops.The movie has been certified as fresh on Rotten Tomatoes receiving a 95% rating by critics. The director Roman Polanski grew up in Kraków Ghetto in Poland during the Second World War period and witnessed first-hand the destruction caused by German troops in his country. He feels very connected to the main character in the movie as he, too, had to hide in a barn until the war ended. Roman Polanski is also known for producing and directing the popular film An Officer and a Spy.